Vegan pizza at Oscar and Rosie’s Canteen, Leicester

May 11, 2017

When I was first contacted by Oscar and Rosie’s, I have to admit I was surprised a vegan-friendly pizza restaurant opened up without my knowledge. I am perpetually on a quest for the best slice in town, so how on earth did this little Nottingham based restaurant open up under my radar? Well, as soon as I knew about them, I made immediate plans to visit and stuff my pizza loving face.

Oscar and Rosie’s is right next to the covered market in the centre of the city, on one of the recently renovated side streets that flanks the new market park. It’s a fairly quiet street at the moment, but with all the new development taking place, hopefully it will soon be buzzing with restaurants and pedestrian footfall. The restaurant itself is in a small, open, bright restaurant with just a few communal tables. It’s very casual – you seat yourself and order at the bar. I actually really like this as it reminds me of my favorite pizza restaurants in the states – understated, but still cool, and most importantly – serving up delicious pizza. So my expectations were high, especially considering their extensive and delicious looking vegan menu.

At the moment Oscar and Rosie’s don’t have printed vegan menus in the Leicester restaurant, but they can basically veganize anything on the menu. They have vegan ham, chicken, chorizo, etc. and the option to have it topped with Violife cheese (which is the only cheese I like on pizza). So many choices. We decided on ham and cheese (Andrew) and chicken, wild mushrooms and olives for me. Plus a couple vegan beers to wash it all down.

The pizzas that came out were huge, but I was up to the challenge. The first slice did not disappoint. In fact, I was blown away by it. The base was soft with the right amount of crunch and blackened bits, the toppings were perfectly portioned and the wild mushrooms were out of this world delicious. Normally I like to have something to dip my pizza in (ranch, garlic sauce, oil) which they didn’t have, but honestly, it didn’t need it. And I feel like that’s saying something. I managed about half of my pizza while we were there, and polished off the rest at home. And then felt sad the next morning when I didn’t have cold leftover pizza for breakfast. That’s how good it was. Oh, and it was served on a silver tray without silverware which is how pizza should be eaten – picked up and folded. Why some people eat pizza with a fork and knife I’ll never understand.

I had a quick chat to Olly after our meal who is the brains behind Oscar and Rosie’s, and he was actually a solicitor with no pizza experience when he opened the first restaurant in Nottingham. When I asked him why he decided to offer vegan dishes, he said originally he was “harangued” by some vegans into offering something other than a cheese-free veggie pizza. However, once he started offering inventive vegan pizzas they took off immediately, with vegan pizzas accounting for around 20% of all sales in the first couple months!

I left feeling full and satisfied, and excited for a pizza place that actually does good vegan pizzas. Is this the best vegan pizza in Leicester? In my opinion, yes.